The complete speech, which was transcribed after the fact entirely from memory, is available herein English and aquíen Castellano, and below I am highlighting certain extracts which I think are still critically relevant today.

To mark this occasion, one source of inspiration has been this year’s publication of Arnold August’s Cuba and Its Neighbours: Democracy in Motion(Zed Books, Fernwood Publishing); chapter 5 (Democracy, Elections and the New State) begins with a few pages devoted to describing and analyzing the significance of the Moncada assault and the “History Will Absolve Me” speech.

As Arnold August explains in his important new book, the current debate about democracy, elections, and the nature of the revolutionary state in Cuba, really owes its origins to the period beginning in 1953. The intention behind the Moncada action was to effectively restart the Cuban Wars of Independence of 1868-1898.